What are your Growing Degree Days in Kalamazoo?
Wait.http://www.gddtracker.net/
I looked it up: 916 growing degree days--if you use a base of 22 degrees. (Same in my town, and I have a few tiny sprouts of ryegrass).
In theory, grass seed should not go bad. However, if you planted blue and fine fescue and no ryegrass, their germination will be slower than perennial rye. I would expect sprouting of the first seedlings in the next few days.

As an experiment we threw some down on my own lawn late last fall. Never raked in, wintered over and now all of the sudden sprouting everywhere. TTTF and KBG (excellent high quality seed though). This up in Maine.

As an experiment we threw some down on my own lawn late last fall. Never raked in, wintered over and now all of the sudden sprouting everywhere. TTTF and KBG (excellent high quality seed though). This up in Maine.

Really? I have never had any luck getting any kind of germination without a loose soil seed bed either from aerating or from loosening the soil in spots with a stiff rake or weasel. So you threw it down on hard ground and it is now germinating?

Really? I have never had any luck getting any kind of germination without a loose soil seed bed either from aerating or from loosening the soil in spots with a stiff rake or weasel. So you threw it down on hard ground and it is now germinating?

Yes - I was completely shocked! I guess some fall rain and over winter weight of snow and stuff may have forced some into the soil a bit but yes. I'll take a picture tomorrow. Sprouting everywhere on the bare ground - you can still see a fair amount of seed still on top too.

grass seed will maintain good germination over time if stored properly. Germination will go down over time, but storage condition is critical. Also letting the bag of seed sit in the sun or hot car or truck will kill the seed very quickly. Remember, even if germination is 50% you can usually get a good stand because most people over plant. It only takes a few hours in an oven (hot car or truck) to kill the seed. If it hasnt sprouted by now it wont.

I still had seed on the surface, under the snow, becuz it was never exposed to the freeze/thaw cycle... As soon as the snow was gone and the ground thawed we never got a hard enough freeze since then to 'pimple' the open dirt... today we are beginning a week long episode of 'warm rains' after the sun has spent 3 days of drying out and warming up the soil... I hope to see germination by the end of the week...

Great observation, McFarland,,,

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Now that I know that clay's texture(platelets) has nothing to do with water infiltration, percolation, or drainage,,, I wonder what does...
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